Two Educators
A person must have two educators: One who sees all his faults and fixes them and another that sees all his good and amplifies them. – Reb Mendel Futerfas
Category: meditations
A Proper Good Morning
One should tell their friend a good morning of Simchas Torah, not a good morning of Tisha Be-Av – Reb Mendel Futerfas.
The Central Prayer
By Rabbi Dovid Markel In the Ne-ilah prayers on the Day of Atonement, we paraphrase the Talmudic (Berachot 29b) statement: “The needs of Your people Israel are many and their mind is small.”...
Except for Acher
By Rabbi Dovid Markel When the wayward sage, Elisha ben Abuyah, desired to sin with a harlot, the Talmud (Chagiga 15a) recounts that she questioned him: “Aren’t you Elisha ben Abuya?” His response was...
Greater than a Tzadik
By Rabbi Dovid Markel The advantage of the Bal Teshuva (penitent) over the Tzadik (righteous), is the sin itself. The very imperfections make him more perfect. Knowing sin, yet abstaining, expresses a tremendous depth the...
Absolution of Sin
They asked wisdom:[1] “How shall the soul that sins be absolved?” She answered: “The soul that sins, it shall die.” (Yechezkel 18:4) They asked prophecy and she answered: “Evil will pursue the sinners.” (Mishlei...
On Forgiveness
By Rabbi Dovid Markel If we truly realized the pain we cause others, we’d never do 99% of the painful things we do. Forgiveness is often about the realization that our fellow never meant...
A Question of Strategy
The mistake in strategy of orthodoxy.
To Educate and Be Educated
Who is the better educator, an older person or a young man with great acumen?
Chassidus & Kishka
The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn once made the following analogy about the intellectual pursuit of Chassidic philosophy: [1] The intellectual pursuit of Chassidus was once compared to the Jewish delicacy of...
